“You need a daily baptism of the love that in the days of the apostles made them all of one accord.”1
What importance does personal worship have if it is so important that I daily surrender to Jesus and ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
Daily worship and the observance of the Sabbath are the foundation for a spiritual life.
The whole foundation for the worship service in the tabernacle was the morning and evening burnt offerings. On Sabbath there was an additional Sabbath burnt offering (Numbers 28:4,10).
What Importance Did the Burnt Offering Have?
“The burnt offering represented the complete surrender of the sinner to the Lord. Here the person kept nothing for themselves, but rather everything belonged to God.“2
“The hours appointed for the morning and the evening sacrifice were regarded as sacred, and they came to be observed as the set time for worship throughout the Jewish nation…In this custom Christians have an example for morning and evening prayer. While God condemns a mere round of ceremonies, without the spirit of worship, He looks with great pleasure upon those who love Him, bowing morning and evening to seek pardon for sins committed and to present their requests for needed blessings.“3
Do you notice that daily worship is connected with the Sabbath as a basis for our spiritual lives? In addition, does it make it clear that it has to do with a daily surrender to Jesus Christ, who is invited through the Holy Spirit to live in us?
Have you made the most important spiritual principle your own: To give God priority over everything every day? Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
The kingdom of God is when you have Christ in your heart now. Jesus personifies the kingdom of God (Mark 10:15; Luke 17:20-21). This is why we need to daily surrender and to daily ask for the Holy Spirit during our worship time. The decisive moment will be when we stand before God: Did we have the saving personal relationship with Christ and did we stay in Him? (see John 15:1-17) Don’t you long for more — for greater fulfillment in your faith?
Would You Only Eat Once or Twice a Week?
Whoever spends little or no quiet time with God or only has an inadequate worship time will probably only be strengthened by their worship once or twice a week. That is similar to someone only eating once or twice a week. To make a comparison: Wouldn’t it be absurd to only want to nourish yourself once a week? Doesn’t this mean that a Christian without worship is carnal?
This also means that if he stays in this condition then he isn’t saved. When we are carnal Christians worship can be just an obligation. When we are spiritual then worship will become more and more a necessity and joy.
Years ago I read a booklet by Jim Vaus: I was a Gangster. He was a criminal who became converted. He wholeheartedly confessed his sins — for example perjury, theft, etc. He experienced tremendous divine intervention. This impressed me. I said to myself: I am doing fine in almost every way, but I don’t have experiences like that. Then I prayed to the Lord: “Father in heaven, I also want to confess all my known sins and all the sins that you will yet show me. In addition, I will get up an hour earlier to pray and read the Bible. Then I want to see if you will also intervene in my life.”
Praise God! He intervened in my life. Since then, especially my morning worship in connection with the Sabbath has become the basis for my life with God.
Call to Action
Will you daily consecrate time with Jesus? Will you ask daily to be baptized by the Holy Spirit?
Through daily surrender and through being daily filled with the Holy Spirit our lives will be beneficially changed. As a result, our new life “in Christ” will be preserved and will bear fruit. This happens during our personal worship time.
The above is an excerpt from Steps to Personal Revival.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
- Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1904), vol. 8, 191.
- Fritz Rienecker, Lexikon zur Bibel (Wuppertal, 1964), S. 1017.
- Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1890), 353.
